I've heard so many great things about Pouncey, but now he's terrible? (I thought he was good, but not All Pro caliber like many have proclaimed.)

With the way the OL has been falling apart, I'm starting to wonder if the Steelers' biggest problem is more training than talent. I do think if Ben has covered up a lot of offensive deficiencies on this club. And if he were to do down for an extended period of time, this team could be even worse than the Clowns.

(Aside from an occasional seal block, which often involved holding but not being flagged for it, I don't see anything good in Willie Colon's game. He might be a good presence in the locker room, but otherwise, he's absolute garbage.)

I just see the glass half-empty...... The strengths on this team are aging, and the new players are not taking up the slack. We could be in for a down period (8-8 or worse) for the next few seasons. We will then find out Tomlin's true worth, in regard to running this team. (Hopefully he won't end up being the Ken Whisenhunt of the AFC.)

ballhair wrote:Mill is 100 percent right. Tomlin is a fraud and as much as I hate to it Big Ben is over rated. Too inconsistent. I think the "fat wallet" reference describe alot of the players. Woodley is a lazy fat sack of shit. The whole team played like a bunch of pussies.

If Peyton Manning or Drew Brees played on our offense, they'd be "overrated" too..........

Not many QBs will perform well in a dysfunctional offense. (The only offense more dysfunctional than ours right now is the AZ Cardinals.) The way it's been playing I think it's a miracle we even have a winning record right now. Ben is playing with no running game, receivers who drop passes, and an OL that cannot block a beach ball.

I've always thought John Elway was best QB I've seen with crap around him. But Ben might be his equal. The last thing I'd call him is "overrated".

And because of our dire situation on offense, our defense has been forced to gamble. It did well until we lost our pass rush. (The only upgrade this season has been our corners.) But I do think the lack of takeaways has made that corps overrated, in spite of the ranking.

Heck, even our special teams sukk...........

We lost to the Raiders, we lost to the Clowns, we lost to the Chargers..........

Another failure of the Tomlin era is the lack of impact free agent signings. Colbert seems to have lost his touch there. Is there a home run in any of the free agents signings since Tomlin took over-- Cowher rebuilt the team when he took over with a lot of shrewd signings. I guess hitting the salary cap has hurt to be sure. But there aren't many pleasant surprises in FA signings except maybe Dwyer and Redman.

We can criticize Pouncey all we want, but 50% of an O-lineman's success is predicated on the guys on each side of him playing decent as well. The lack of continuity and ability on the O-line as a whole severely hampers each individual's success. Former players we consider great such as Faneca and Dermonti had better talent and more stability around them.

On a side note: How can Max Starks not be the MVP of the Steelers thus far? They keep dusting him off and putting him out there and all he does is protect the blind side game after game. This guy is underrated and underpaid. By far the most consistent guy on the squad - I don't want to hear about the fucking place kicker, he don't count!

Looking ahead to next year. You have Adams at tackle that started to come on, then got hurt. DeCaastro that looked to be a starter from day one, then got hurt. Colon played pretty well, then got hurt. Beachum looks to be find. Four guys that should upgrade the talent there if we can stay healthy.

The biggest need we have is on the defensive line and linebacker. Tons of good linebackers in the draft every year. We need strong, athletic, defensive linemen. I like Heyward and think he has incredible upside. Hood is a zero. Big Snack is done and Keisel is done. I thought McClendon earned some reps but I guess the coaches don't see it that way.

I agree with most of the grades given here but I think there's some upside to this team going into next year. Along with a good draft this year I think we come back pretty strong.

I don't like Tomlin as a coach but he's here for years. We will have to deal with it.

Rollers wrote:I don't like Tomlin as a coach but he's here for years. We will have to deal with it.

It might be easier to deal with with a coaching clean-out to bring in fresh attitudes and ideas to reinvigorate the team. Unfortunately, Haley isn't going anywhere (although I'm not giving up on him yet), if Dick goes he'll be replaced by a cronie and likely we'll see next to no new blood (if any). Something has got to give because this team's performance is trending down...down...down.